Slowdown in India, Germany led drop in onshore wind energy capacity in 2018
Companies commissioned over 45 GW of onshore wind turbines globally in 2018 compared with 47 GW a year earlier
New Delhi: The global commissioning of onshore wind turbines declined 3 per cent in 2018, partly due to a slowdown in India and Germany, even as the growth is expected to bounce back in 2019, with a 32 per cent jump to 60 Gigawatt (Gw), clean energy research firm BNEF said.
Companies commissioned over 45 GW of onshore wind turbines globally in 2018 compared with 47 GW a year earlier. “Just four manufacturers accounted for more than a half, or 57 per cent, of the machines deployed: Denmark’s Vestas, China’s Goldwind, GE Renewable Energy of the U.S. and Spain’s Siemens Gamesa,” BNEF said in a statement.
Data shows that Vestas extended its lead in the industry, with 10.1 GW of its onshore turbines commissioned in 2018 – a global market share of 22 per cent compared with 16 per cent in 2017.
China’s Goldwind rose from third to second place, lifted by a strong performance in China, where it captured a third of the 19.3 GW market. The company’s global footprint, however, remains limited: only 5% of Goldwind’s 6.7GW were commissioned outside China.
GE came third with 5 GW – six out of every ten GE turbines were commissioned in the U.S. Both GE and Vestas commissioned just over 3GW in the U.S., with Vestas leading by 44 MW in the neck-to-neck race for U.S. market leadership.
Siemens Gamesa, formed in 2016 from a merger of the wind business of German engineering giant Siemens and the Spanish turbine maker Gamesa, dropped from second to fourth place, with 4.1 GW commissioned in 2018. This is 40 per cent less than in 2017, although the tally does not include a number of very large wind farms that are only partially built and will not come online until 2019, BNEF said.
Total onshore wind installations in 2018 were 11.7 GW in the Americas, 8.5 GW in Europe and 1 GW in Africa and the Middle East, while Asia accounted for 24.2 GW. BNEF registered new wind farms starting full commercial operation in 53 countries.
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
